


Snooping

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 13:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5165009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louisa sneaks onto the Dark Core base.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snooping

It honestly made no sense how Louisa had managed to stay in the fridge for so long without suffocating. But, though her knees shook when she pushed the door open, she felt physically fine. She was really glad that she didn’t have a weak stomach- puking might just draw attention.

“Smallhoof,” she called softly. Her voice was lost over the lapping of the waves, much to her relief. Mentally facepalming, she instead reached out for her pony with the new bond that they had.

She found him deep inside the base. He seemed frightened.

_“Easy, boy, it’s okay. I’m coming to get you,”_ Louisa promised, and pictured hugging him.

Louisa ducked down behind a box and held her breath, swearing internally as the goon walked by with a torch. The beam flashed over her and she closed her eyes, sure that she’d been spotted.

As soon as his footsteps retreated, she darted over to the thin metal strip that linked the two platforms.

After a series of similar running and hiding, Louisa found herself on another thin strip of metal that ran along the wall of the base.

_“Don’t look up, don’t look up,”_ she silently begged the guards. To her relief, they didn’t, and she managed to drop down from a pipe lightly. Wearing sneakers had been a great idea.

Finally, she was inside, and she could feel Smallhoof’s presence growing closer and closer.

_“Louisa!”_ he cried happily, but fortunately remained silent.

_“Smallhoof,”_ she cooed as she ran to him. She wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled his neck, grinning. _“You’re alright?”_

_“Yes,”_ he said with a nod. _“They didn’t hurt me. They didn’t feed me or anything either, and they still haven’t noticed that I am definitely not Justin’s horse.”_

_“They’re so stupid but Alex said not to underestimate them,”_ Louisa agreed, smothering a giggle. _“You’re a pony and you’re the wrong colour.”_

_“To be fair, Alex probably would’ve used Tin Can or another horse,”_ said Smallhoof.

_“She also probably would’ve gone in there by now and started a fight,”_ said Louisa. _“Why do you think I volunteered?”_

Sands started talking then, so Louisa pressed herself against the wall and listened carefully to what was being said. But her curiosity got the best of her, so she peeked her head around the corner.

Justin was there, and Sands, Sabine, and another girl.

_“That’s Jessica,”_ Smallhoof supplied in a whisper. _“Alex sometimes yells about her. Apparently she really hurt Concorde, and Alex suspects that she’s partly responsible for Anne going missing.”_

Over the course of the meeting, Louisa learned many things about Dark Core. They were trying to create a fourth Dark Rider with Justin, and perform the Dark Ceremony to free Garnok.

Suddenly, the conversation trailed off. It occurred to Louisa that everyone was looking at her.

“Run,” said Justin, and not kindly.

“Swear words, so many swear words,” Louisa muttered through grit teeth as her and Smallhoof raced out of the base.

“Fire the flare now!” Smallhoof yelled when they reached the right place. Louisa needed no further prompting, and raised her arm up to fire the flare and alert Brus of their distress.

Louisa only relaxed when the boat started to move away from the oil base, and collapsed over Smallhoof’s neck.

“That was scary,” she admitted.

“Thanks for taking it on,” said Alex as she appeared from elsewhere on the ship. “Brus made me leave Tin Can on Jorvik so I didn’t do something stupid. And I would’ve, too.”

“Smallhoof told me that,” said Louisa. “She was there, too. Jessica.”

“And who else?” Alex asked with a growl at the mention of the girl’s name. “What did you learn?”

“Can’t you debrief me after I pass out?” Louisa requested. “Smallhoof will remember if I don’t.”

“Yes, Alex, give the poor girl a break. She’s earned it,” said Brus. “Come on Louisa, I’ll let you have my bed. A hero deserves better than the sailors’ quarters.”

The next time Louisa travelled to the Dark Core base, she had a faster horse just in case. She was also completely alone save for the seaman who’d taken her to the base.

“Good luck, Louisa,” he whispered to her as she stepped off the boat.

“Thanks,” Louisa whispered back to him. Then she turned to her horse. “I’ll be right back, Sexy, I promise.”

“Good luck,” her horse whispered, and nuzzled her as Louisa hugged her neck.

“I’ll be right back.” With that, Louisa once more ran into the Dark Core base. She took the same route as last time, only this time something big and red and magic-soaked caught her attention.

Turning from the door, Louisa ran to the platform with the portal on it. She found a high enough place and knelt down, peeking over the edge to watch what was unfolding.

Soon, the portal emitted a pulse of magic as well as something else. A girl.

_“Hot girl,”_ Louisa corrected herself.

_“Focus,”_ said Smokeeye with a snort.

_“Right, sorry.”_ Louisa returned her attention to the other people around the portal.

Oh. Of course the hot girl would be the one that had done such horrible things to Alex. And really, shouldn’t she have remembered her from James’ dream?

_“She’s hotter in person,”_ she said in return to Smokeeye’s very valid point.

As soon as everyone else had disappeared (and Louisa had been greatly disappointed that Katja was wearing a coat because really how dare she), Louisa ran down onto the main platform.

“Justin!” she called, running up to him. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Louisa? I thought I told you not to come back here,” said Justin, frowning at her.

“It’s for your own good,” said Louisa. “Your grandfather is evil, Justin, he’s manipulating you and hypnotising you!”

“What? No he’s not. Those other girls have put stupid ideas in your head, maybe you shouldn’t hang out with them,” said Justin.

“I trust them a lot more than I trust these guys,” she said. “They’re the good guys, you’re working with the bad guys. Don’t you know what they’re planning on doing?”

“No. And right now I don’t want to hear anymore. I’m going to join my grandfather for dinner. We’re having lasagne, it’s the best!”

“Probably laced with mind-altering drugs,” Louisa muttered under her breath. “Justin, please. Come with me and forget about all of this.”

“No,” said Justin. “You know, Louisa, your weakness is that you trust pretty girls all too readily. But I’m not going to tell my grandfather that, because I’m going to give you this one last chance to leave me alone.”

“That’s not true,” said Louisa. “I don’t trust Katja. Or Sabine or Jessica.”

“Maybe not, but you’d be putty in their hands if they so much as looked at you,” said Justin. “But like I said, I won’t let my grandfather know if you leave now. There’s a pipe over there that’ll take you down to the bottom of the base. Goodbye, Louisa. For the last time.”

And then he was gone, and Louisa followed his directions down the pipe. She hugged her horse before climbing back into the boat, feeling slightly shaken.

“Are you alright?” Smokeeye asked on the way back.

_“No,”_ Louisa sighed. _“Justin’s right. My weakness will end up with me getting hurt. I trust pretty girls too easily.”_

_“You don’t think Alex is pretty, and yet you trusted her immediately,”_ said Smokeeye. _“There are lots of pretty girls on Jorvik, but you don’t trust them.”_

_“Hey, it’s not my fault that the Soulriders are all so pretty,”_ said Louisa. _“Thanks for making me feel better, Sexy.”_

_“You’re welcome. Now, just remember to not tell Alex how hot you think Katja is,”_ said Smokeeye.

_“Oh, I won’t tell anyone,”_ Louisa promised.


End file.
